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by Joker_vD 830 days ago
> bad abstractions (here: a number system) can be made to work, but they still suck

The only really bad thing about Roman numerals is non-positionality, and it kinda follows naturally from them being merely transcriptions of the states of the 5+2-beads abacus that was popular back then. If only the norm back then were the 10-beads abacus... alas, the history is what it is.